Jan Young
www.jansbiblenotes.com
JESUS IS GOD
Is Jesus God?
He claimed to be God.
That leaves three possibilities.1. He is deceiver, a liar, and therefore a sinner. In that case He is not God at all, and not even to be followed at all.
2. He is a lunatic, or as C. S. Lewis said, on the level of a poached egg. Again, that would make Him a person not to be followed at all.
3. He is God indeed, and therefore to be believed, worshipped and obeyed.
The Bible has a great deal to say about Jesus, but let's just look at the account in the Gospel of John. Let's look at His own words, and what His friends and enemies were saying about Him. We will need to do a little cross-referencing to the Old Testament.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
1:1-3
The writer, the apostle John, clearly states that Jesus is God. The context makes it clear that "the Word" is Jesus Christ. Jesus is eternal--in the beginning with God--and only God is eternal.1:23
John the Baptist says he is Lord.4:25-26
Jesus claims to be the Messiah. The Old Testament taught that the Messiah would be God Himself. Compare these passages:
Is. 7:14, Immanuel means "God with us".
Is. 9:6, this child/son will be the mighty God, the eternal Father.
Micah 5:2, this ruler of Israel born in Bethlehem is from eternity.
Malachi 3:1, the coming Messiah is the LORD (God).
Psalm 110:1, the Lord (the Father) says to the Lord (the Son)--otherwise what could it be saying? 1-2 are talking about the one who will come to rule over the earth.5:18
Even His enemies understood He was claiming to be God; that's why they wanted to kill Him for blasphemy.5:23
He says He deserves equal honor with the Father.6:69
The disciples tell Him they know He is the Messiah. He does not deny it or correct them.7:18
Speaking of Himself, He claims to be sinless; only God is without sin.8:29
He is claiming to be sinless/God.8:58
He claims to be eternal, using the "I AM" name of God. (see below)9:38
He accepts worship; if He was not God, this would be blasphemy.10:30
He claims to be equal with the Father.10:33
His enemies understand that He is claiming to be God. That's why they hate Him.10:36
This clarifies that the term "Son of God" was synonymous, to the Jews, with "God."12:44
He equates Himself with God.13:13-14
He claims to be Lord.14:7
He equates Himself with the Father.14:17-18
He equates Himself with the Holy Spirit.14:23
He equates Himself with the Father and the Holy Spirit.17:5
He claims to be eternal with the Father.19:7
The Jews understood that He has been claiming to be God.20:28-29
He accepts the titles of Lord and God and commends that belief.20:31
Jesus is the "Christ" which means "Messiah." "Son of God" means divine/God.Jesus purposefully used many "I am..." statements, claiming God's name for Himself. The Jews knew that "I AM" is the name of God--compare Exodus 3:14:
John 6:35, 41, 48, 51
7:28-29
8:12, 18, 23, 24, 28, 58
9:5, 39
10:7, 10, 11, 14, 36
11:25
12:46
13:13, 19
14:6, 10, 11, 20
15:1, 5
18:5-6, 8, (in 5-6 and 8, you'll notice that the word "He" is in italics, meaning it was supplied by the translators to clarify the meaning in English), 37
19:21And of course His ultimate proof that He is God is the fact of His bodily resurrection, John 20:1-31.
No one has to believe that Jesus is God, but no one can say that the Bible doesn't teach it.
Copyright 2010 Jan Young